Bloomberg | Investors Pile Into Health to Shield Holdings From Trade War

Equity investors are flocking to health care in the wake of escalating geopolitical tensions and a waning appetite for technology stocks.

The S&P 500 Health Care Index is the best-performing sector so far this quarter with a 7.8 percent gain, outperforming a 4.5 percent rise in the broader benchmark. Pharmaceutical and biotech stocks are among the biggest outperformers as they rebound from earlier concerns about failed clinical trials and scrutiny on drug pricing in Washington. The momentum has accelerated as investors seek havens from a potential trade war.

“It was time for the group to catch up a little,” said Andrew Hilgenbrink, who helps manage more than $1 billion in health-care assets at Highland Capital Management, said in a telephone interview. “Tariffs are kind of a non-event for the health-care space. Furthermore, valuations have become very attractive in large-cap pharma and biotech.”…